Meat slicer



T. H. sTRAcHAN 'Er AL. 2,037,233

4 MEAT SLI CER Amin M, w36.'

' Filed May 14, 1951 s sheets-sheet 1 .Amig M 3936- T. H. sTRAcHAN ET ALl 03179233 MEAT sLIcER Filed May 14, 1951 5 sheets-sheet 2 pril 14,1936. T, H, STRCHAN ET AL '2,037,283

MEAT SLICER Filed May 14, 1951 :s sheets-sheet :s

INVENTORS Patented Apr. 14, 1936 MEAT SLICER Thomas H. Strachan andWilliam H. Fryer, Dayton, Ohio, assignors, by mesne assignments, to TheHobart Manufacturing Company, Troy, Ohio, a corporation of OhioApplication May 14, 1931, Serial No..537,316

Y 3 Claims.

The present invention relates to machines such as may be used forslicing articles of food as, for. example, bread, meats, and the like.

'I'he primary object of this invention is to im- -1 prove generally theconstruction of machines of the foregoing type.

Y A specific object is to improve the construction and arrangement ofthe carriage which supports the material to be sliced for feedingmovementparallel with the knife whereby smoother and more reliablevoperation requiring less eiiort may be secured.

A further object is to provide an improved arrangement which:facilitates setting of the upper 115:V portion of clamp in two positionsand positively locksvit in. place when set in either of said positions.

Another object is to provide means whereby the upper portionof the clampmay be `readily '20. detached when it is. not tobe used.

A` further object is toprovide. an improved clamp carrier for feedingthe material to be sliced transversely of thev knife.

Various other objects, advantages, or features 25. of .this inventionwill beV pointed out in the following specication and claims or will beapparent after a study thereof and of the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

30 Fig. 1 is an elevation of the right side of the slicing machine andillustrates the arrangement of the carriage, the clamp, and the guidingrails for the carriage.

Fig. 2 is a view in elevation of thefront end 85 of the carriage andillustrates the construction and arrangement of the guiding rails: andthe anti-friction devices supporting the carriage for movement parallelwith the knife.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 3--3 of 40 Fig. 4.

4 is a rear elevation of the carrier supporting the clamp for movementtransversely relative to the knife.

Fig. 5A is a detail view in front elevation of the mechanism for holdingthe upper clamp in either ahorizontal or a. vertical position.V

Fig. 6 is a verticalrsecton on the line 6 -6 in Fig. 5.

59 The base of the machine is designated by the numeral I0` (Fig. 1) andsupports the driving mechanism for the knife I I, the adjustable gageplate I2, the upper knife guard I3, and the cover plate -I4 fortheknifeA II. Since all of the fore- 55 goingy mechanisms or parts are nowwell-known 29 for guiding theV clamp. carrier.

in the art, theyneed not be described in detail herein.

The base I0 supports the guiding rails I5 for the carriage framet I6; bymeans of brackets I1 attached tothe right edge of said base, suitable 5.screws I8 serving tormly clamp the rails I5 to the brackets II. It willbe observed by reference to Fig. 2 that the rails I5 areinclinedtransversely of their axes so that an edge of each is adaptedV toslidably support the carriage frame I6 Vby 10 means of anti-frictionrollers I9 having V-shaped grooves conforming to the upper edge of therails I5.

The rollers I9, are mounted in anti-friction bearings sup-ported. byadjustable carriers 15 which are screwed into threaded holes in the.frame I6 and are slotted to permit rotation by means of a screw driveror some such tool. The carriage frame I6 is slotted or split adjacenteach of the carriers 29 as at.2I (Fig. 1) and provided. 20

with clamping screws 22. It will. be obvious that the carriers 2l)v maybe readily turned by loosen.- ing the clamping screws 22 andutilizing ascrew driver to turn the carrier.

In this manner the carriers, may be adjusted friction rollers 23 carriedby the frame I6 and 3Q bearing against the lower inclined` edge of railsI5. Itv will be seen that the construction just described permits thecarriage to be moved parallel with the knife with little effort.

The bracketsV I'I which` support the ends of the 35 rails I5 are formedwith upward extensions 24 which cooperate with downwardly extendingprojections 25 formed in the carriage frame I6 to limit the slidingmovement of said .carriage parallel to the knife II. If desired, anysuitable shock absorbing devices such as rubber cushions may be mountedupon the extensions 24 or 25 to minimize shocks due to a too rapidmotion of the carriage parallel with the knife II which would causesevere jars when the projections 25 strike 45 the extensions 24.

The carriage frame I6 has an inclined portion 26 (Fig. 1) upon whichrests the tray 21 adapted to support the material to be sliced, and isprovided with two extensions 28 vwhich support a cross bar 50 The clampcomprises twov members 30, 3| vhaving sharp spikes set in the surfacesadapted to make contact with the materialY to be sliced. and hold saidmaterial firmly while being sliced. 'Ihe lower 55 clamp member 30 isformed of a flat strip of metal bent at right angles and attached to theclamp carrier 32 by means of thumb screws such as indicated by thereference numeral 33 (Fig. l). The upper clamping member 3| is pivotallymounted upon the lower end of a sliding bar or rod 34 by means of a stubshaft 35 pinned to the bar 34.

The purpose of pivoting member 3| to bar 34 will later be more fullyexplained. Said bar 34 is slidably mounted in a bracket 36 detachablymounted upon the carrier frame 32 and iixed to said bar is a handle 3lprovided for the purpose ber 3| which may be retained in its uppermostpo- I sition by means of a spring urged catch 38 pivotally mounted uponthe bracket 36 and having a tongue or nose engageable with a slot in-thebar 34 to retain the latter in raised position.

The entire assembly comprising the clamping members 30, 3|, the bracket36, and the clamp carrier 32 is slidable transversely relative to theknife along the `bar 29. The carrier 32 is provided with groovedantifriction rollers 39 similar to the rollers I9 and mounted in similarmanner in antifriction bearings 40 mounted in slotted carriers 4|similar to the carriers 20. There are four of the rollers 39, tworesting upon the upper edge of bar 29 and two in contact with the loweredge of said bar, and the frame 32 is split adjacent each carrier 4|4 asat 42 and provided with clamping screws 43 similar to the clampingscrews 22. In order to simplify assembly of the carrier 32 upon the bar29 and reduce the costof replacements of worn or broken parts thecarrier 32 is made in three parts 32, 32a, and 3217, the part 32a beingattached to the part 32 by means of machine screws while the part 32h isattached to the part 32 by means of suitable bolts. The upper pair ofrollers 39 is mounted in the part 32a while the lower pair is mounted inthe part 32h.

The bracket 36 is not permanently fastened to the carrier 32 but isadapted to be readily detached when it is not desired to use the upperclamping member and for this reason the bracket 36 is provided with anangular shoulder 44 which is adapted to t against the top edge and rearface of the frame 32 (Fig. l) and has an inclined hole cooperating withan inclined stud 45 screwed into the carrier 32 and locked in place by aset screw 46.

The bracket 36 is also provided with a boss 41 the surface of which isat right angles to the axis of the stud 45 and against which a wing nut48 may be screwed to holdthe bracket rmly in place on the upper edge ofthe carrier 32. It will be clear that the bracket may be easily removedby simply unscrewing the Wing nut 48 and sliding the bracket along theaxis of the stud 45 until it is completely disengaged therefrom. Thelower clamping member 30 maybe readily removed if desired by unscrewingthe thumb screws 33.

It is often desirable to be able to slice very thin slabs of material orremnants of food such as the butt end of a piece of meat which is toothin to be held between the clamping members 39, 3 I, therefore, theupperrclamping member 3| .is-adapted to be turned sothat thespikesthereon are directed toward the plane of the-knife therebypermitting impaling of the material to be sliced upon the spikes. It hasalready been stated that the upper clamping member 3| is pivotallymounted upon the stud 35 permitting said member to be swung from theposition shown in solid lines in Fig. 5 to that indicated by brokenlines in the same gure. In order to retain the member in either of saidpositions releasable means is provided comprising a plunger 49 slidablymounted in a hole in the bar 34 and adapted to register with either oftwo holes 50 formed in one of the hubs of the forked member 5|supporting the clamping member 3|. A second plunger 52 is mounted in ahole in bar 34 below the plunger 49 and with its axis parallel to theaxis of plunger 49.

A hole 53 is provided extending crosswise oi the i holes guiding theplungers 49, 52 and provides a chamber permitting a limited movement ofa screw` stud 54, joining both plungers 49, 52, in the direction of theaxes of the plungers so that both plungers move as a unit to the left(Fig. 6) whenever the plunger 52 is pressed to the left Vby theoperators nger, this movement being resisted by a spring 55 pressingagainst the left end of the plunger 52. It will be clear that theclamping member 3| may be set in either of the positions Vshown in Fig.5 by merely pressing in the plunger 52 until the plunger 49 becomesdisgengaged from the associated hole 56 and then turning the clamp tothe desired position where the plunger 52 is released and plunger 49 ispermitted to enter the other hole 50 thereby locking the clamping memberin set position.

The present invention has been shown as embodied in a specific formsolely for the purpose of illustration, therefore, it is not desired tobe limited either to the specific construction illustrated or thespecific machine sho-wn in the drawings as it is contemplated that theinvention may be varied as to details and arrangement in order to adaptit to conditions found in practice.

We claim:

1. A slicing machine having a lower clamp member, a single support towhich said member is secured, an upper clamp member, a single supportfor the upper clamp member, and means for removably mounting the secondnamed support on the first named support, comprising a notch or shoulderformed inthe second named support whose walls intimately contact withtwo coacting surfaces in a projecting part of the first named support,and clamping means operable to exert a force in a direction inclined toboth of said coacting surfaces and clamp each wall of said notch orshoulder into contact with its corresponding coacting surface.

2. In a slicing machine, a movable clamp member and a support therefor,a xed clamp member and a support therefor, said last named supporthaving two supporting surfacesY at an angle to each other 'to form awedge adapted to carry the entire weight of the movable clamp member andthe rst named support, the latter having a shoulder or notch formedtherein adapted to receive the wedge, the walls of said shoulder beingadapted to closely contact with the aforementioned surfaces on thesecond support forming the wedge, and a single clamping means mounted ononeV of said supports adjacent the intersection of the two surfaces onthe second named support and inclined to both said surfaces, and adaptedto securely clamp both supports together by a wedging action between thewalls of the shoulder on the one support and the two supporting surfaceson the `other support.

3. A slicing machine having a base, a cutter mounted on the base, anarticle carriage slidably mounted on the base for reciprocatory movementparallel with the cutter; a guide rail secured to the carriage andextending in a direction transverse of the knife, said guide railconsisting of a flat bar having opposite edges triangular in section; aclamp supporting structure; and means for slidably mounting the clampstructure on the guide rail comprising a. pair of housings secured tothe clamp structure, carriers removably retained in holes in saidhousings, means carried by the housings adjacent said holes for securelyclamping the carriers in the housing after the carriers have beeninserted into their holes, antifriction bearings mounted 1n saidcarriers, and

grooved rollers riding on the opposite edges of the guide rail andsupported by the antifriction bearings, the grooves in said rollersbeing triangular in shape and adapted'to coact with the triangular edgesof the guide rail to prevent displacement of the clamp structurerelative to the rail other than longitudinally thereof.

THOMAS H. STRACHAN. WILLIAM H. FRYER.

